MasterStream Blog

Not long ago, telecom customers were either required to seek connectivity solutions at locations that held infrastructure or face the costly obstacle of installation. 

These days, customers have a number of options to choose from when it comes to telecom connectivities. Most often, users will connect to existing infrastructure, which is considered “on-net,” or connect to an off-net solution, a connectivity solution in which the provider has purchased use of the local network facility through a supplier relationship.

But off-net solutions are not just beneficial to the user—they’re also beneficial to the provider by giving them the ability to extend their network presence and, therefore, their customer base.

Read on to learn more about off-net solutions and how they make a world of difference for those who do not have access to physical connectivity infrastructure. 

What is off-net connectivity?

To gain a solid understanding of off-net connectivity, let’s first take a look at its counterpart, on-net. On-net connectivity refers to a carrier that owns network infrastructure and facilities at a location. In other words, the user is receiving services directly from a physical network.

Most telecom professionals are familiar with on-net connectivity because it is the traditional form of connection.

Off-net telecom connectivity is a relatively new service. Off-net connectivity refers to a solution that connects users to the location by their purchase of the use of the local network facility through a supplier relationship. 

Although off-net can involve more unknown and hard-to-identify variables, it offers services to those who are not connected to physical infrastructure and do not own last-mile facilities but want to extend their footprint.

What are the benefits of off-net connectivity? 

Ultimately, off-net solutions make connectivity more accessible, manageable, and reliable. Off-net providers offer a service solution to more locations than on-net solutions and provide a number of benefits, including letting users:

• Avoid managing service connections and bills from dozens of carriers.
• Obtain the same level of service-level agreement as on-net.
• Extend a carrier’s footprint.

Although off-net suppliers lack local access to the infrastructure, they make up for this by providing an optimal on-ramp to a customer’s cloud infrastructure, which results in a better overall solution to meet the user’s needs.

How do you use tech tools to find the right connectivity? 

Selecting off-net connectivity doesn’t mean you’re going in blind. There are a number of evaluation tools available that allow you and your team to evaluate off-net serviceability. In turn, your sales team can design solid service solutions and sales packages for prospective customers.

BandwidthFinder

Let’s start with BandwidthFinder. This tool is a comprehensive bandwidth provider tool that provides intelligent data on providers and assets in your vicinity. 

BandwidthFinder does this through: 

• Rating Precision, which allows you to find out exactly how close the tech asset of interest is to your location. Information includes address, near-net, ZIP+4, census block, and ZIP code.

• Network Presence, which allows you to evaluate carriers as well as which solution providers can service an address through their underlying suppliers. Evaluating network presence can help you build a better, more connected cloud-based application or network solution.

The benefits don’t end there—here’s how else BandwidthFinder's algorithm delivers the best provider options.

CarrierAccess

Costing tools such as MasterStream's CarrierAccess provide the user with the ability to check availability and aggregate cost from all of the off-net providers the carrier has agreements with. 

This is a fully automated tool, which means the process takes place in a single step, improves your team’s efficiency, and lowers labor costs.

Off-net strategies begin with the right tool. 

Off-net solutions provide endless benefits to customers and providers by extending network presence and connectivity where it didn’t exist before. But you can’t implement these strategies without the proper tools. 

With MasterStream ERP’s suite of tools, you can locate network presence and even learn extensive details about that connectivity, such as the underlying supplier, whether the connection is bandwidth or fiber, and much more. Take the next step—request a demo of MasterStream ERP today!